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Bioethics and the Fetus pp 103–121Cite as

Fetal Tissue Transplantation

An Update

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Part of the book series: Biomedical Ethics Reviews ((BER))

Abstract

Politically, the issue is moribund, and is likely to remain so unless and until the political climate changes.1 During the past five years, advances in techniques for fetal tissue transplantation have raised many people’s hopes of finding cures for previously incurable and devastating diseases. Simultaneously, these advances have provided a new target for opponents of legalized abortion.

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Notes and References

  1. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1990) Appendix A: DHHS Moratorium on Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research, Neural Grafting: Repairing the Brain and Spinal Cord, OTA-BA-462, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, pp. 171–173.

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  2. This concern led him to join me, along with neurosurgeon Robert Ratcheson, in writing an article on the issue (1987) The ethical options in transplanting fetal tissue, Hastings Center Report 17, 9–15.

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  3. Mary B. Mahowald et al. (1987) Transplantation of neural tissue from fetuses, Science 235, 1308–1309.

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  4. Mary B. Mahowald et al. (1988) Neural fetal tissue transplantation: Scientific, legal and ethical aspects, Clinical Research 36, 3.

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  5. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Appendix A.

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  6. Consultants to the Advisory Committee to the Director, National Institutes of Health, Report of the Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel, December, 1988.

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  7. Ibid.,Vol. II, A2.

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  8. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 149,171.

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  9. /bid.,171.

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  10. Alan Fine (1986) Transplantation in the central nervous system, Scientific American 255, 52;

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  11. Edwin Kiester, Jr. (1986) Spare parts for damaged brains, Science `86 7, 34.

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  12. Human fetal tissue was used in the development of polio vaccine during the 1950s, but the first attempts to transplant human fetal tissue occurred as early as the 1920s. Cf. Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota (1990) The Use of Human Fetal Tissue: Scientific, Ethical and Policy Concerns, (January).

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  13. lbid.,21.

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  14. Much of this section is drawn from my article (1989) Neural fetal tissue transplantation: Should we do what we can do? Neurologic Clinics 7, 747–748.

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  15. Alan Fine, op. cit.,52–58.

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  16. SUS Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 93–109.

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  18. Cf. Michael Green and Daniel Wilder (1980) Brain death and personal identity, Philosophy and Public Affairs 9, 105–133;

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  19. Warren Quinn (1984) Abortion, identity and loss, Philosophy and Public Affairs 13, 24–54.

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  20. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 61.

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  22. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 61–90; and Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota, 109–110.

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  23. Cf. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 84.

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  24. After publishing the consensus recommendations of the Cleveland forum in Science, (March 19, 1987), I was personally accused in an unsigned letter of fomenting another holocaust. Cf. James Bopp, Jr. and James Burtchaell (1988) Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel: Statement of Dissent, Consultants to the Advisory Committee to the Director, National Institutes of Health, Report of the Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel I, 64–69.

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  25. e.g., Lori Andrews (1986) My body, my property, Hastings Center Report 16, 28.

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  28. John A. Robertson, Rights, Symbolism, and Public Policy in Fetal Tissue Transplants, Hastings Center Report 18, 6 (Dec. 1988), 7.

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  29. Mary B. Mahowald (1988) Introduction to neural fetal tissue transplantation: Scientific, legal and ethical aspects, Clinical Research 36, 187, 188.

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  31. Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota, 136–138.

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  33. US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 158–161.

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  34. /bid.,95,96; 68–71.

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  35. Mahowald,et al., The Hastings Center Report,10.

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  36. Cf. my Neural fetal tissue transplantation: Should we do what we can do? Neurologic Clinics 7 750,751.

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  37. Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota, 251–267.

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  38. Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel: Statement of Dissent, Consultants to the Advisory Committee to the Director, National Institutes of Health, Report of the Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel I, 70.

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  39. Robertson, 6.

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  40. Mary B. Mahowald (1988) Placing wedges along a slippery slope, Clinical Research 36, 220–222.

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  41. Cf. Bopp and Burtchaell, 56.

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  42. Lori B. Andrews (1988) Feminism revisited: Fallacies and policies in the surrogacy debate, Logos 9, 81–96.

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  46. e.g., Bopp and Burtchaell, Report of the Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel I.

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  47. e g., Robertson, Hastings Center Report 18, and Andrews, Hastings Center Report 16.

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  48. e.g., I have argued that even if abortion is wrong, the pregnant woman’s consent is necessary so long as she is affected by the decision ([1987]Hastings Center Report 17 13);

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  49. cf. Lisa Cahill (1988) Report of the Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel II, D58 — D65.

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  51. Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota, 211–231.

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  52. Ibid.,212.

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  53. /bid.,213.

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  54. /bid.

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  55. Ibid. 215–216.

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  56. Mahowald et al., Science 235 1308.

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  57. Center for Biomedical Ethics, University of Minnesota, 211.

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  58. /bid.,224.

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Authors
  1. Mary B. Mahowald
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    James M. Humber  & Robert F. Almeder  & 

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© 1991 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Mahowald, M.B. (1991). Fetal Tissue Transplantation. In: Humber, J.M., Almeder, R.F. (eds) Bioethics and the Fetus. Biomedical Ethics Reviews. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-445-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-445-0_6

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-4609-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-445-0

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